LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Education is proposing using a color-coded system to indicate school achievement levels as part of the waiver it is requesting from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to MLive.

The state’s original proposal was to use a three-color system based on a traffic light — red, yellow and green — to indicate schools that are, respectively, in need of improvement, mediocre or performing well, MLive reported. That could now change to a five-color system.

“We’re glad to hear about the five categories — a big improvement for the new public reporting system,” Amber Arellano, executive director of Education Trust-Midwest, told MLive. “We still think parents intuitively understand an A to F system better than a color system.”

SOURCE: MLive, “Parents understand an ‘A,’ but what about a ‘yellow’ on a school report card?” May 10, 2012